After a three-day NHL break for the Christmas holiday, the
Capitals conclude a three-game homestand with a Friday night contest against
the New York Rangers at Verizon Center. The game pits a pair of Metropolitan
Division foes who are meeting for the third of four times this season.

Behind the goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers
blanked the Capitals on Verizon Center ice by a 2-0 score on Oct. 16. When the
Caps paid their first visit to Manhattan this season on Dec. 8, they nearly
returned the favor. Making his first start of the 2013-14 NHL season and just
the second of his NHL career, Washington netminder Philipp Grubauer stopped 30
of the 31 shots he faced. Grubauer lost his shutout bid in the final few
minutes of regulation, but his efforts helped the Caps to a 4-1 victory over
the Blueshirts.

The Capitals won three of their first four games of
December, but they’ve gone 2-2-2 in half a dozen games since. With three games
remaining in calendar 2013, the Caps are 5-3-2 for the month.

Washington’s current homestand is its fourth this season of
three games or more in length. The Caps have posted a combined record of 6-6-1
in those homestands of three or more games, and they’re 6-2 in the rest of
their games in the District this season.

In each of the first two games of the current homestand, the
Caps have squandered a two-goal lead en route to defeat. Washington owned a 4-2
lead over the Devils midway through the third period of Saturday’s game, only
to surrender three unanswered goals to the Devils in a 5-4 overtime loss. Two
nights later, the Caps’ 2-0 first-period lead over the Anaheim Ducks – the
league’s best team – evaporated when the Ducks also tallied three unanswered
goals in a 3-2 win over Washington.

Entering Friday’s game against the Rangers, the Caps hold
second place in the Metropolitan Division. Washington is four points ahead of
Philadelphia and the Rangers, the two teams tied for third in the division.

Four games shy of the season’s midpoint, the Caps have won
one more game than they’ve lost this season (19-18). They’ve scored the exact
same number of goals (112) as they’ve permitted. Offensively, that’s good. The
Capitals are seventh in the NHL with 109 goals. But they’re 24th in
goals against.

Washington has allowed exactly two even-strength goals per
game (74 in 37 games), ranking just 23rd in the league in that department.
None of the seven teams beneath them is currently in what would be a playoff
position in the standings.

After allowing 38 goals in 15 games during the month of
November, the Caps have already surrendered 33 goals in just 10 games in the
month of December. Cutting goals and shots against would seem to be imperative
for Washington as the team approaches the midpoint of the campaign.

Washington has averaged 29.6 shots on goal per game while
permitting 35.1 per game. The Capitals’ minus-5.5 shot differential is its
second worst mark in the last 16 seasons, which is how far back nhl.com has
those numbers available. Only one Washington team in that time span had a worse
shot differential. The 2003-04 Caps were dead last in the NHL with 23.7 shots on
goal per game and they were 27th in the circuit with 31.5 shots
permitted per contest for a differential of minus-7.8.

Only nine times in 37 games this season have the Capitals
managed more shots on goal than their opponent. The Caps have had success in
those rare occasions, going 6-2-1.

The Capitals’ puck-possession metrics also paint a grim
picture. The Caps are 26th in the NHL in Corsi for percentage
(46.5%) in 5-on-5 play with the score close. Washington is 27th in
Fenwick for percentage (45.9%), also in 5-on-5 situations with the score close.

Despite some poor statistical measures, the Caps are 17-9-4
since their 2-5 start to the season. Fewer than half (nine of 19) of Washington’s
wins this season were achieved in regulation and only once in 2013-14 have the
Caps managed to win successive games in regulation (Dec. 7-8).

Since drawing his first start of the season against the
Rangers in the aforementioned Dec. 8 game between the two teams, Grubauer has
started five of Washington’s last eight games, winning three of them. He is
4-1-1 with a 2.20 GAA and a .934 save pct. since being recalled from AHL
Hershey on Nov. 30.

New York started the season with nine straight road games,
going 3-6 during that stretch. The Rangers just finished up a nine-game
homestand that resulted in a mediocre 3-4-2 mark for New York. The Blueshirts
went 3-1-1 in the last five games of the homestand and they hit the District
having won each of their two previous games.

First-year backup goaltender Cam Talbot started and won for
the Rangers in games on consecutive nights (Dec. 22-23) leading into the
holiday break. In 12 appearances (10 starts) for the Rangers this season,
Talbot is 8-2 with a 1.60 GAA and a .938 save pct. The last time a Rangers
goaltender not named Henrik Lundqvist started more than 20 games in a season
was in 2005-06, Lundqvist’s rookie season.

Although Lundqvist recently inked a lucrative seven-year
contract extension, Talbot has started back-to-back games more than once this
season. In eight December starts, Lundqvist is 2-4-2 with a 3.41 GAA and an
.874 save pct.

Notes: Washington is 8-5-1 against Metropolitan Division
foes this season while the Rangers are 5-6-2 … Friday’s game marks the 200th
regular season meeting between the Caps and the Rangers. Only Pittsburgh (201)
has been a more frequent regular season opponent for the Caps during
Washington’s franchise history. The Caps are 93-82-18-6 all-time against the
Rangers.